Was the Exodus natural or supernatural, fact or fiction?

[Justtristo]

Lots of men with sticks (pikes) could really do damage to a knight and his horse.

"Trained men" with pikes...not pitchforks...could stop a cavalry charge. But in reality an untrained mob would see a column of heavy cavalry bearing down on them, shit their pants, and run like hell. Like I said, this is not Hollywood.

Come to think of it in Anglo-Saxon England the freedmen or ceorls (the peasants who weren't serfs or slaves) were liable for military service when their overlords needed soliders. Considering that, some of the peasants would have had some military training in order to ready them for battle.